Hello Outlanders,

First up, before we get to today's sneak peek, let's celebrate!  We've flipped another Stretch Goal target from red to green!

ACHIEVED! -At $46,000 in Funding – AT THE GATES SHIRT ON REDBUBBLE – An At The Gates-themed Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. Only backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.

Next up, some fun tools for online game play.

At $48,000 in Funding – AT THE GATES VTT TOKEN PACK – Digital assets will be created to support online play for At The Gates, including key character and creature tokens from the book. This online asset pack will be added to the rewards list of all backers.

Hopefully we'll unlock this goal over the next week! Things do slow down during the middle weeks of a campaign, so please continue to spread the word and let's recruit new backers to our cause and see if we can continue to move forward on these achievements!

I've got another preview for you today, this time take from Chapter 7, which is full of Storyguide advice and guidance. As noted, Backers will have full access to the draft version of the manuscript for this chapter as well as Chapter 5 on Tuesday, and will be able to read the entire book before the campaign ends - before any pledges are processed or payments collected. So let your friends know they can join in at the $5 or $25 tier right now and read the book as we go along and bail out before the end if the game is not to their liking. I think they'll stick around, though - this game is awesome.

At the Gates draws proudly on the genres of epic fantasy, political fantasy, and especially the space where they overlap in JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Fire Emblem. 

Political fantasy ranges from the dark and violent Song of Ice and Fire to equally dramatic but less bleak fare. At the Gates veers toward the more hopeful side of the genre, like the flash and drama of the Gentleman Bastards series. Young Adult fantasy series, with a fundamentally hopeful outcome, are useful reference points, as are comics like Monstress that adeptly blend the political with the magical. 

While Final Fantasy and Fire Emblem are the bedrock of At the Gates inspiration, it also draws on other high magic JRPGs like the Tales series and The Last Remnant. Spren from The Stormlight Archive is a good touchpoint for Everend’s daemons. Octopath Traveller and other games informed At the Gates’ magic. 

In truth almost any piece of media that pictures a world of tension and epic fantasy are great resources for At the Gates.

Taking inspiration from these genres, in any media, is a strong foundation for At the Gates stories and characters.

Politics without intrigue and deception is just a meeting. Wars, treaties, the enforcement and breaking of agreements, and of course personal greed all feature strongly in the genres At the Gates draws from. In roleplaying games, politics gets interesting when it’s personal. Some of the greatest villains of our genres co-opt power structures for their own selfish, sinister, often cataclysmic ends (Seymour in Final Fantasy X being a prime example). They abuse the characters’ trust, turn them into tools (looking at you, Sephiroth) and betray them. Those betrayals cut far deeper than any act of war and they make arch-villains one of the most memorable parts of a story. These genres also give a Storyguide permission to make villains enticing, attractive, and seductive; if the heroes aren’t a little in love with their nemesis, can they really feel the right intensity of hate?  

Betrayal isn’t the only way to confound expectations. Unexpected allies are a pleasant surprise. Final Fantasy games make heavy use of mind control for this — for example, Sorceress Edea’s story in Final Fantasy VIII. Any story element gets old when it’s overused, and mind control’s so famous it’s almost a cliché, but you can villain-code any character by giving them an abrasive personality and incredible style. Less flippantly, when the players discover an apparent villain has a relatable motivation, for example saving a loved one, and the group wins them over by solving their problem, the reformed villain becomes an emotionally significant ally. 

Fire Emblem, along with the fantasy novels listed in “A Treasury of Inspiration” treat political intrigue as a contest of equals. There may or may not be an evil faction, but there’s rarely an entirely good one. That’s the model At the Gates uses. There aren’t goodies or baddies, but several factions for whom meeting their own needs requires trampling on someone else’s. That’s helpful for a Storyguide, as it creates far more interesting conflicts than a simplistic model of good versus evil.

A key part of saving the world — and the stakes are always to save the world — is seeing the world. The Zelda games are a masterclass in exploration, presenting different biomes and landscapes, each with their own unique experiences for the players. And experiences are key. 

Oh, and airships. Airships, winged steeds, and other inherently magical forms of transport are never a bad addition to a story. Airships, flying castles, and other passenger transports double as a home base for characters, which gives them a chance to defend, rather than attack, changing up gameplay in the process.

There are also some genre tropes that simply don’t translate well to tabletop roleplaying. Teenaged protagonists are one of them. In a novel or video game, an author or designer can protect teenagers from anything uncomfortable. It’s harder to achieve that in a tabletop roleplaying game, even with a robust and well-implemented set of safety tools — especially when the source material cheerfully sends sixteen-year-olds, and often younger characters, into mortal and spiritual peril. Plus, players simply may not want to play teenagers. Opening games up to a wider range of character ages is an important tool for player comfort — and who doesn’t love a world-weary mentor, parental stand-in, or hero coming out of retirement? 

Slow, incremental levelling and resource gathering also falls flat in roleplaying games. Every Final Fantasy player has survived hundreds of hours of grinding, slaying the same monsters again and again for XP and crafting components. It’s an achievement, and it’s fun in a patient, low-key way. In a similar vein, fights where each side stand opposite one another in the middle of an empty battlefield don’t give players much opportunity to use all their skills or add flair to their roleplaying. In a game where fights take much longer and a group plays for just a few hours a week (or month, for some groups), combat must be memorable, exciting, and dynamic. Like boss battles. 

Video game boss battles use exciting environments, unexpected power sets (and transformations), and high stakes to make fights breath taking, edge of the seat, affairs. Not every fight should be as epic, or as lengthy, as a boss fight, but they should all have something that makes them memorable. An interesting arena, where characters must think tactically to make the most of the environment; interesting effects to change up play (enemies that steal trivial bits of equipment can get really annoying); consequences such as ticking clocks or people to rescue; or a foe the characters love to hate. There is, however, a lot of value in re-using the same types of foes, as long as they’re interesting. Once characters have refined their tactics to beat them consistently you can simply mention that, for example, the characters encountered a group of Osseous Warriors on their journey and easily defeated them. 

The single most important lesson to learn from the many works and genres that inspired At the Gates is this: go bigger. Then even bigger. Everything in your At the Gates game should be lovingly detailed and over the top. Character design, the descriptions of mighty sword blows and powerful magics, elemental disasters, and grand speeches are now your stock in trade. Go forth and tell vast, sweeping, epic stories. 

OK, we'll have our next draft manuscript download on Tuesday, covering a lot of the rules and Storyguide bits for the game. That said, I know we're always keen for the next bit after, and in this case, it's all about the Arts and Pillars of Magic.

I'll have a sneak peek coming your way on Thursday and we'll take a look at two of the Arts from the book. As we did with our first sneak peeks, we're going to turn this into a popularity contest! While we'll get all of the information when the draft manuscript comes our way in a few weeks, let's figure out which Art we're most excited to learn about and I'll have a peek at the top two answers.

Martial practices rise among warrior-cultures all across Gaia. Scholars of fighting styles and martial history call these methods Arts. Some Arts are passed from master to student across centuries of refinement and study, while others are reflections of individual skill, honed by a singular warrior’s unique style.  Though they derive from her character’s profession Path, a player purchasing these Arts chooses how her character knows them.

The Art of Succor utilizes Empathy, Medicine, and Persuasion. Attacks boosted by the Art of Succor may use any of these Skills in place of Close Combat, Esoterica, or Ranged Combat.

The Art of Motion (Harrier)

Motion Arts utilize Athletics, Enigmas, and Larceny. Attacks boosted by the Art of Motion may use any of these Abilities in place of Close Combat, Esoterica, or Ranged Combat. The Art of Motion allows a harrier to make magical attacks with a close combat weapon rather than a focus.

The Art of Control (Mage)

Control Arts utilize Esoterica, Science, and Technology. Attacks boosted by the Art of Control may use any of these Abilities in place of Close Combat, Esoterica, or Ranged Combat.

The Art of Command (Warlord)

Command Arts utilize Close Combat, Leadership, and Pilot. The Art of Command allows a warlord to make magical attacks with a close combat weapon rather than a focus.

The Art of Might (Warrior)

Might Arts utilize Close Combat, Ranged Combat, and Athletics. The Art of Might allows a warrior to make magical attacks with a close or ranged combat weapon rather than a focus.

Let's vote and I'll share a sneak peek for the top two results on Thursday. I should also note that there are Advanced Arts like the Killing Art for Assassins and the Tactical Art for Tacticians, but we'll learn about those when we get the full chapter on May 28th!